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Assassin's Creed II Goes Demo-Less

We've been talking about demos a lot lately; they have become a definite staple of the current generation gaming experience.

But that doesn't mean every publisher received the memo. While you'll usually find a playable demo for big blockbuster releases, don't expect a chance to sample Assassin's Creed II before its scheduled November 17 launch date. As Connected Consoles reports, a spokesperson for the publisher did confirm that there would be no demo on the PlayStation Store or Xbox Live Marketplace. For the record, they didn't give us one for the original Creed, either, but this is 2009, not 2007. One would just assume that a demo was almost inevitable by this time but it appears that Ubisoft is counting on gamers to learn about the game the old-fashioned way; read up on available info, check out media (we got some great videos, for instance), and in general, stay in the loop. They do say that Ubisoft may be previewing the game at some public expo events in the upcoming weeks but if you're not in the vicinity, forget about trying Assassin's Creed II before the 17th.

Well, we're all kinds of excited for this sequel, anyway, so we can live without the demo. Let's just hope it doesn't hurt the sales potential for this promising title; demos have been known to increase sales of the product, ya know.

If you really feel the need to do the whole "first" thing (which I think should be a bannable crime in any case,) please at least add something that relates to the article, in this case concerning the lack of a demo for a high-profile release.

Happy as I am that you plan on buying AC2, it's irrelevant, especially after plugging that "First!".

Really? No Demo?? Not a good move.. It suggests they are afraid people might not like it before buying it, so hide the terrible quality and sucker as many as you can. Or just release videos of it showing all the cool stuff. (Movie trailers are notorious for this kind of thing)

With money always an issue if there is no demo to a game, I am not risking my hard earn bucks to buy a game I haven't tried. And trailers of cut-scenes don't cut it either. I mean we've all undoubtedly bought a game without trying it first and have quickly come to regret it. I'm not talking buyer's remorse either.. You've bought a game and only played it once because it was terrible. That is infuriating.

Well if you continue with that line of thought then MW2 is going to be shitty too, however I never planned on getting that. Just cause there isn't a demo doesn't mean the game is going to be bad. I loved the first one even though it was repetitive and from everything I have seen they have really added a lot of content to mix things up a little bit. AC2 is a day one purchase for me.

I think there's a middle section of games that benefit from demos. The bottom section consists of games that, as Hawkeye says, have to avoid demos that would showcase the game's faults. (WET, for example). The top section are all awesome games that can sell tons on hype alone. They don't need a demo for sales.So it's just the middle bunch, ones that don't already have a strong following, that benefit from giving us a taste in demo form.AC2 is most definitely in the top tier. AC1 can be considered their demo. :)

1. I didn't rate ACII at all. I was just trying to say how people will view a game with no demo in an age of demos. People might be inclined to believe the game isn't good. 2. I never claimed a game without a demo won't be good.3. I expressed my strategy of trying games first before purchasing them. Just because a game is selling millions of copies, doesn't mean *I* will like it.

People do this all the time. Why should it be so different with video games? People test drive cars before buying and walk through homes before buying (multiple times if you're my wife). Granted a video game doesn't cost anywhere near those, but I want be a little more sure I will enjoy a game before I spend money on it.Last edited by Hawkeye on 11/2/2009 12:23:59 PM

Does Sony charge devs to make a demo available? I would assume so. An extra expense that ACII won't need to sell millions of units. Maybe if is was an unknown franchise, but everybody knows the name Assassin's Creed.

AC 2 is one of my few exceptions of buying before I try. I usually only buy full priced games based on a demo. Just because everyone and their mother says a game is great doesn't mean that I will enjoy it. I want to test them out myself first.

Because of the issues some people had with AC1, I can see the no demo approach hurting sales. Why not just give us the first 5 minutes?

Thank GAWD that there are publishers out there not inundating us with cursed demos of their games.

Saying demos are "staples of the current generation" or calling this the "age of demos" is ridiculous. There's been demos of games for decades. In fact they used to call them shareware. Then they got the bright idea of including demo diskettes with magazines to up the prices and it took off from there. Demos are far from being new and this is far from being some age of demos. Everyone on this site could list dozens upon dozens of huge games that do not have demos nor did they need them to get huge sales. The entire GTA series for one.

You ask me we can do without them. They mislead more than anything. A great game like Valkyria Chronicles has a knob of a demo and the Brutal Legend demo would have you believe it's an action packed romp.

You know, you don't have to download every demo that comes around. I'm sure you just pick and choose which ones to try like the rest of us. But, don't you like more content on PSN? Don't you like trying a demo of a game you'd've never thought twice about and being pleasantly surprised?

I respectfully disagree with your assessment of demos. First, the demos that came with the magazines? They weren't free, you had to buy the magazine. And not everyone bought those magazines. The demos on PSN are free.

When I purchased Heavenly Sword it was based solely on having played the demo. I am certainly glad there was a demo for this game.

I purchased Assassin's Creed like I said I would when I found it for $20. I have too many games that I'm playing right now, that I haven't started it yet. It will definitely be the determining factor in buying AC2 and I'm quite sure I'll be playing the first one before the end of november. I like the whole concept behind this franchise and I hope it doesn't disappoint.Last edited by tes37 on 11/2/2009 2:14:11 PM

@ Hawkeye - Yeah, I completely disagree with that article on demos by the way. I know that's what publishers WANT to believe, but demos are a two edged sword that some feel unnecessary to pursue.

If you've played AC, what exactly will you put in a demo that will make people want it more than they already do? What would a demo of Fallout 3 accomplish? Or GTAIV? Or Borderlands? Or Modern Warfare 1 and 2? Or Dragon Age?

All I'm trying to say is demos are not always needed and I'm glad we're spared the stupid "yeah I played that demo so that game is crap" comments.

Of course demos are a two-edged sword. That's why publishers need to make sure their demos are reflective of the game. Demos for video games are like trailers for movies, samples of food at the grocery store, or free previews of tv channels by your local cable/satellite provider. They all give you a taste of the product and hopefully entice you to buy it. In that regard demos are becoming more powerful marketing tools.

And of all the millions of downloads of content from PSN, I willing to bet a great many were demos of games.

As for a demo for ACII, It should show what kind of differences it has between it and AC. Same with Fallout 3 or GTAIV, what little differences have been implemented? Demo's could still be of value even to these behemoth video games. And you know if you've played WWE, Tiger Woods or the Madden franchises that there can be huge differences from one year to the next, with regard to game mechanics. With ACII don't you hope there would be some changes? Improvements? Other options? If there isn't then save your money and play AC again.

My point is simply, demos will become more the norm than the exception, even for huge releases. And you have the freedom of not downloading them.

As far as people saying stupid things, well yeah, that will happen regardless...

You really shouldn't have used demos for sports games as examples. They're always terrible, given that you don't even get to play a full game. I have never once been able to tell from a "sports" demo whether the game was better than its previous iterations or its competitors.

There are quite a few games that I know I will buy and I will not play the demos, since I know they will be awesome, and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise of playing it for the first time. They almost always are Sony exclusives.

I probably won't be getting AC2 anytime soon, not because it isn't an exclusive, but because I've got plenty of action-adventurers that I haven't finished, yet (R&C, InFamous, NGS2). I try not to play games of the same genre at the same time.

I like demos, but I don't need them. Especially if my hard drive has less than 500 MB on it, which it does. I liked the first one, and I'm sure this one will be worth buying imo. Unfortunately I'll have to buy a new hard drive next time I get a game.

I hate it when theres no demo of a game because if i hear about a game i read up about it first and expect a demo for me to try it out before i buy it and it might be a waste of my money, now i'm not to sure on AC2 cos AC1 was long, boring, tedious it the game was just repeated. The start to the game was good also had a very interesting story line but it was to samey. Either way i can see why people enjoy this game.

there's certain games where a demo doesn't work... ACII is one of them... open world games are tough to create demo's for... you practically have to include the entire map, or the city the demo takes place in... and developers don't want to spoil the city in the demo, they want you to discover these things yourself...

infamous had a demo and, it was virtually the entire first island available to play... but, they put like a 10 minute limit between the couple of missions so you couldn't "fully" explore the island... this is the approach ACII would have to take to keep people from exploring the entire first city... demo's work for linear games, not open world games...

if GTAIV came with a demo, people would be playing that instead of the game because, if you give them some weapons and the first island, they could spend all day long doing vintage GTA stuff...

but then again, when does a demo ever do a game justice? most demo's i've played sucked and did nothing to convince me to buy a game... i thought the infamous demo sucked but, i did what most "smart" gamers do and that's read some reviews and form my own opinion... demo's give you a taste but, it's usually just the side-salad that you usually don't finish...

I'm with you bones, I think the only demo I liked was the KZ2 one and even that didn't do it justice. I gave the inFamous demo a lot of slack (it wasn't so great) but I knew it wouldn't be compared to the real deal so when I bought the retail game I was very happy to find out it was a hundred times better.

lol yea... the only demo i can think of that i enjoyed was batman: arkham asylum and i still haven't bought the game yet so, even though it was fun, it didn't convince me to go out and purchase it right away... instead, i am waiting until either christmas or when the price drops...

demo's are really pointless IMO... previews, reviews, game play videos and screenshots should be enough to convince you to purchase it... not a lousy, half-assed demo, lol...

I suppose an established franchise may not need one ya know? I like to have demos, but I think this is a situation in which if you liked the first one you'll like the second one. I'll be watching the reviews and reactions but if it's anything like the first I won't even consider it.

I liked the 1st one but got bored halfways through and not been back since. I lost all my saves. Not been back to it again.

I do like the look of this one though as it seems they fixed the crappy stuff you had to do on the last one some of the missions were a bit rubbish, eavesdropping for one. So I am hopinh this will be better. So no dmemo who cares I can wait I got plenty to play between now and then anyway.
I still have to try the online on Uncharted 2 lol.

Thats to bad I told myself after the first AC that I wouldn't buy the second AC unless I played the demo first well maybe I'll pick it up off ebay, which has been the case this generation, if they don't release a demo I usaully pick it up on ebay for like $30-40.

o, come on forza 3 is allot of fun.and TBOGT is what GTAIV should of been, less taxi driving and more driving to a airport and blowing up a private plane with sticky bombs.now thats my kind of game.and L4D2 is looking good, even though i cant dismember zombies :(

i really cant wait for this, every article i read about this just makes me want to get it more.just finished reading a 5 page in depth preview from the PSM3 magazine i got today.best thing they changed is, you have too steak out your assassination area before you start a mission, and remove certain threats.so instead of running in, alerting the whole country, than trying to escape from the whole country, you can hire friendly archers to take the enemy archers place.so once you kill your target, the archers you hired take out the guards, and your home free.

i would still like some stealth though, after all this is assassins creed 2 not hitman creed 2.

Just found a 'Black Friday' ad for K-Mart. If you buy the PSP AC: Bloodlines pack, you get AC II for free. Good deal, I suppose, if you're lookin for a PSP and AC II for X-mas- if it's a real ad.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kRZYHUoe6Qs/SvBvZ0aelEI/AAAAAAAACao/xRlWqC4bHcU/s1600-h/kmart-page-17.jpg